If you want to be Perfect

Perfectionism is a typical characteristic of firstborn and only children, yet it can afflict any of us to varying degrees. A perfectionist will typically try extremely hard and yet give up when failure is evident. In Matthew 19:21 Jesus gave some individual advice to a perfectionist, who had come face to face with the fact that no matter how hard we try, we can never be as good as God. What was his advice?

We can summarize Jesus' counsel to the man by the verbs he used: sell, give, come, follow. How could Jesus tell someone to sell everything they have and completely divest themselves of a perfect life, in order to become perfect? Perhaps in this man's case, he was not living the perfect life after all. Perhaps he was actually a slave to money and living a very imperfect life. Jesus offered him perfection, which is embodied in the words "come and follow me."

It is important here to note that voluntary poverty does not earn eternal life. Rather, it is a release from the bondage of materialism. I can relate to that. One time we lost our house, car and my job all in the same day. Strangely, it was like a great burden lifted from our shoulders. Also, whenever we move and divest ourselves of the mill stone of accumulated material goods, it is like a breath of fresh air, a relief. Materialism becomes a burden and we don't even notice until we get rid of all the stuff we collect.

The Simple Life

As is so often the case with Jesus' teachings, he used an extreme example of voluntary poverty and a monastic lifestyle, to teach a lesson for all of us. Not everyone is called to poverty and the itinerant ministry that Jesus offered the rich young man, but it is true for all of us that the simple life is a far richer life. However, it is not by itself the perfect life. What it can do is free us up so we have time to follow Christ and learn more about the perfect life that only he can offer us.

We all know how much time lawncare, gardening, housework, pool maintainance, interior decorating, horse management, boat cleaning and vehicle maintainance can take. We generally become slaves to what we own. The more we own, the greater degree of slavery we experience. When we simplify, it's amazing how much more time we have for the things of God and the pursuit of real perfection.